Sermons on Prayer (Page 3)
Colossians 1:1-14
Celebrating the Church SCRIPTURE: Colossians 1:1-14 SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: We begin a new series today on the brief, but powerful, New Testament book called “Colossians.” This letter was written centuries ago to a small church being bombarded by philosophies and practices that were incompatible with the Christian faith. These philosophies are surprisingly similar to the New Age ideas and a New Morality being touted in our own culture, so much so that one can legitimately call New Age thought “ancient heresy,” and the…
Colossians 4:2-6
Right Angle Christianity SCRIPTURE: Colossians 4:2-6 SPEAKER: Brad Harper Introduction: In their admonitions concerning how believers should live, many biblical writers are fond of using what might be called a “right angle” image. They emphasize a balance between a vertical relationship (with God), and a horizontal relationship (with the world in which we live). Several general patterns emerge from this image. For example, a relationship with God is the necessary foundation for right relationships with people. Or, the other side of…
Matthew 14:22-36
Truly You Are the Son of God! Introduction: In our journey through the Gospel of Matthew we come today to another of those amazing miracles which are so well-known to Bible students and even children–Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee. Sometimes these stories are so well known that familiarity can breed contempt; we may even yawn when we hear about them. But these were real events with profound truth behind them. May God help us to have ears to hear what He wants…
Acts 4:1-35
No Other Name Introduction: We have a hard time relating to persecution, don’t we? Most of us have never known significant opposition to our faith in Christ. The worst we can claim is that we were once the butt of a religious joke or that a relative thinks we’re fanatical, or maybe a door was slammed in our face while canvassing our neighborhood on behalf of a Sunday School contest. Not everyone is so fortunate. This Wednesday, I understand, a verdict will be handed…
Acts 12
Deliverance, or Power Encounter Introduction: Acts 12 presents one of the great power encounters of the New Testament. The power of prayer and the power of God go up against the power of Satan, with the same victorious result as in the case of so many the great power encounters in the Old Testament, like Gideon and the Midianites, Samson and the Philistines, or Elijah and the prophets of Baal. I suggest to you that victory is also ours today if we will use…
Acts 20:6-12
On Being Alert Introduction: I was undecided for some time as to what to do with the first part of Acts 20. I didn’t want to skip it, for it has been said that the church service Paul conducted at Troas is one of the most encouraging incidents in the Bible for pastors, because it demonstrates that even when the great Apostle Paul spoke, people fell asleep. I suppose, however, that the average layman could read something sinister into a decision to…
Luke 1:5-25, 57-80
Introducing the Introducer Introduction: Today I want to begin a new preaching series that will probably take us through the entire year of 1997 except for a couple of short interruptions. The series will be on the life of Christ. The recent preaching Paul and I have done on a few of the parables of Jesus whetted my appetite to dig deeper. We are going to use the gospel of Luke as the basis for this series, though we will borrow from Matthew and…
Luke 1:26-56
A Mother Without Peer Introduction: Do you know the origin of Mother’s Day? It’s not a biblical holiday, of course, though the honoring of mothers and of motherhood is certainly a biblical idea. Mother’s Day was first celebrated in 1908 in a little church in Grafton, West Virginia. Anna Jarvis wanted to honor her own mother, which she did by declaring the day “Mother’s Day.” Today it is a widely recognized opportunity to express our love and appreciation for our mothers, mothers-in-law, and grandmothers. I…
Luke 4:14-44
A Prophet Without Honor Have you ever thought that if only Jesus were alive today, and you had the opportunity to hear him preach and to see his awesome miracles, your faith would be much stronger? I suppose it’s natural to think like that, but it’s probably not true. Faith, you see, is not generated by sight. Rather it consists of the simple recognition that God keeps his Word and is totally reliable. There is very clear evidence in Scripture that most great people…
Luke 11:1-13
God Doesn’t Read Junk Mail: Parable of the Midnight Caller I remember some of the strangest things about my childhood. One clear recollection has to do with my duty of taking out the trash and burning it in the fifty gallon barrel in the back yard of our home in St. Louis. In those days the garbage man only picked up garbage; everything else was burned. On this particular day as I was emptying a wastebasket ,I noticed four or five unopened letters…
2 Cor. 1:3-11
No Preferential Treatment Last Lord’s Day we launched a six-month study of the book of 2 Corinthians. I would encourage you to listen to that message if you happened to be out of town over the holidays. We provided lots of important background information for the book and talked about what we can expect to gain from this study. This morning I would like to review just a couple of important points made last Sunday. Second Corinthians is a very personal and emotional…
2 Corinthians 12:1-10
The Man Who Visited Paradise and Returned to Tell About It We come today to one of the strangest and most fascinating passages in the whole Bible. It contains two remarkable stories–Paul’s visit to Paradise and the thorn in the flesh he was given as a result of his visit to Paradise. This is not an easy passage to interpret or to understand, and I’m convinced we will never understand it fully unless we see it in the context of the dispute…